Alice Schlegel

Gender Issues and Cross-Cultural Research

Gender issues have compelled comparativists to look at research problems in new ways. This paper addresses some of these problems and the methodological issues they entail. It surveys a few of the recent comparative studies of the social and cultural construction of gender and suggests some topics for further research.

Adolescent apprentices in Germany: Adult attachment, job expectations, and delinquency attitudes

Guided by Hamiltons discussion on apprenticeships and adolescent delinquency, the goals of the present exploratory study were twofold: (a) to document variation in delinquency (attitudes and behavior), attachment to adults, optimism about occupational future, and disposition toward aggressiveness among a group (N = 43) of German apprentices; and (b) to examine the relations among attachment to adults, optimism about occupational future, and delinquency-endorsing attitudes. Questionnaire and interview data revealed considerable variation across allfour variables. As hypothe-sized, attachment to adults predicted attitudes toward delinquency; notably, this was over and above the effects of aggression. Apprentices who reported higher levels of attachment to adults were also more optimistic regarding their occupational future. Level of aggression moderated the association between attachment to adults and attitudes toward delinquency; specifically, reports of relatively high attachment to adults were associated with low levels of delinquency-endorsing attitudes but only among the low-aggression apprentices. The implications of thesefindings are discussed.

Women anthropologists look at women

Michelle Zimbalist Rosaldo and Louise Lamphere, eds. Woman, Culture, and Society. Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1974. xi + 352 pp. Figures, tables, references, and index.

Human development and cultural transmission.

12.50 (cloth),

Situational Stress: A Hopi Example

3.95 (paper).

Pain, Fear, and Circumcision in Boys’ Adolescent Initiation Ceremonies

Transmission of cultural knowledge to children takes several forms. This paper argues that there are three basic forms of cultural transmission, which are introduced sequentially at different stages of development. Earlier forms are retained as new ones are added, and all three forms are used in adult cultural transmissions. The introduction of new forms is made possible by the cognitive and behavioral consequences of neurological and hormonal changes in the developing body.

Logic, gender and power

ABSTRACT This paper examines stresses that are built into the normal life cycle, from a cross-cultural perspective. The case of the Hopi female is examined in some detail, showing how the role of the adult Hopi woman and the socialization she undergoes for this role puts her into a position of stress during her adolescence. For most women, this is a mildly troublesome period that is successfully overcome when they marry and have children. For some, however, stress can lead to severe depression; and this depression is culturally recognized as a situationally induced pathology.

Adolescence: An Anthropological Inquiry

Rituals that induce pain or instill fear occur in the majority of boys’ adolescent initiation ceremonies. They have been accounted for in several ways: as resolving a psychological conflict, as expressing dominance over juniors, as promoting male bonding, and as preparation for participation in war. This cross-cultural study examines these harsh rituals and concludes that they are a form of adult male control over adolescent boys and unmarried (sub-adult) youths. They occur in societies in which control over young males is an important social issue and other means of control are lacking. We also examine a subset of harsh rituals, those that include circumcision and other genital operations, and discuss the cultural features, particularly marriage practices, that are significantly associated with these operations.

Paternal confidence and paternal investment: A cross cultural test of a sociobiological hypothesis

We will never be free of the ideas Goldberg promotes, nor the tone with which he promotes them unless we (1) radically rearrange our child rearing practices so that men are equally engaged with women in parenting children of all ages, (2) reconstruct our origin myths, so that women have a central, positive place in our beliefs about the origins of the species, and (3) reconstruct our economies so that women can truly compete on a par with men and remain independent of men if they so choose. []